Oxford Brookes

I first met Pete Westropp online. No, not like that.

I was off to study a Master’s Degree in Real Estate Management at Oxford Brookes and did not know anybody else going so decided to email everybody on the course to see if anybody wanted to share a house. After about ten minutes I got a friendly email from a guy called Pete who said he was in the same situation. We decided to meet that afternoon for beers as he was doing work experience in London. Like everybody who met Pete, I was immediately won over by his relaxed and friendly demeanour and knew he would be a great guy to live with. After a couple of beers we knew we would get on, so we shook hands and that was it we were housemates!

We proceeded to rent a grotty 1960’s house in Headington, Oxford and got two other guys to join us. Arriving on the first day of the Masters, there were about 40 people enrolled on our course. It turned out that the vast majority of these “students” were guys in their early twenties, sporty and liked a little drink every now and again. Pete was in his element. From day one Pete got to know everybody on the course and through his humour, ridiculous comments and love of pursuing “extra-curricular” activities quickly became the leader (and joker) of the pack. I soon noticed how he had this natural ability to become the inherent centre of attention purely through his charm, wit ….and Alan Partridge impersonations.

The academic side of the Masters course turned out to be a lot harder than most of us expected. Because of the intensity of the workload, we all made the most of our course nights out and Pete was always at the helm of most of these. Whether it was fancy dress or absurd challenges, a night out with Pete was always guaranteed fun and a much needed diversion from the boredom of lectures and the library. Living with Pete for that year undeniably made the Masters a lot easier for me. Although he never broadcasted it, Pete managed to pick up everything on the course a lot quicker than most people…. especially me! Many a time he would go out of his way to explain things to me that I didn’t understand and he always included me in anything social he was involved in.

As you will see from the below stories, because of his huge personality, all the boys on the course have so many fond and most importantly fun memories of Pete. My everlasting memory of Pete is simply getting up every morning in our house in Oxford, chinning some cereal whilst watching Jeremy Kyle and cycling to lectures with Pete in his brown “Liam Gallagher” coat on his old mountain bike taking the mickey out of every single object and person on the 10 minute ride. Pete could even make a ten minute cycle ride hilarious! Like everybody who knew him, I miss Pete very much but I also feel extremely lucky that he replied to my email all those years ago and I had the chance to live with such a funny and exuberant character who became a really good friend.